Album Review – Toby Keith’s “35 MPH Town”
As Toby Keith was finally releasing his much-delayed new album 35 MPH Town, yet another one of the restaurants that bears his name was creating embarrassing headlines. Already scheduled to close on October 31st, the Rosemont, IL location of “Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill” decided to shutter early after employees started stealing liquor and memorabilia from the restaurant. It’s one of scores of locations that has either closed suddenly or never opened as promised, while hundreds of thousands of dollars in back rent and vendor bills from locations all across the country are making a pariah of Toby Keith’s name in local papers, even though Keith himself is only a partner of the restaurants in name.
But that’s about how things are going these days in Toby Keith’s world. His once high-flying Show Dog-Universal label has now emptied of talent after high profile exits by Trace Atkins, Randy Houser, and Josh Thompson. At the moment, the only artists left on the label have the last name “Keith,” and Toby’s daughter Krystal has never charted a Top 50 single. So much for challenging Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Records blow for blow when the two entrepreneurs split in 2005. Borchetta now boasts a roster 34 strong, including the biggest music star in the world in Taylor Swift. Toby Keith has two artists left in his stable, counting himself.
There’s a song on the new album called “Rum Is the Reason,” which muses back through history and blames the failings of world leaders like Hitler and Stalin to their insatiable desire for alcoholic libations. It concludes, “Run is the reason pirates never ruled the world,” while Jimmy Buffett’s Corral Reefers play a calypso-style ditty. Match that up with the amount of mad patrons at a show in Indiana last year who said that Keith was too wasted away in Margaritaville to perform, and a pattern begins to emerge. “Rum Is The Reason” might be art imitating Toby Keith’s life. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
All of the singles from Toby Keith’s 35 MPH Town have pretty much flopped. “Drunk Americans,” which is the only song on the album not written by Toby would almost be poetic if it wasn’t so pathetic in how sad it seems coming from Keith (the song’s written by Brandy Clark, Bob DiPiero, Shane McAnally). At this point, Toby Keith is a relic. What talent he had was questionable to begin with, and he hasn’t ever really evolved for there. Time has passed Toby Keith by, and he doesn’t have the fluidity or desire to change with the times, or the quality it takes to be considered classic. He’d probably be out there criticizing acts like Thomas Rhett and Florida Georgia Line, but his continued ownership percentage of Big Machine means those acts are making him more money than his own music is. Toby Keith is music’s wealthiest colossal failure at the moment.
35 MPH Town sold as many copies as the fellow Oklahoma-based Turnpike Troubadours did on their recent debut week. Jason Isbell sold twice as many albums as 35 MPH Town did upon its debut. Toby Keith fans don’t want to buy his records. They want to perpetually believe it’s still 2003 when their lives still mattered. Let’s kick Saddam’s ass! No wonder the title track to this album boils down to a “get off my lawn,” message and laments how the times have changed for the worse, while in truth crime statistics have fallen sharply.
But just as much as Toby Keith is to blame for the corner he’s painted himself in, so is the public perception of him. He could personally broker a lasting peace accord between the Israelis and Palestinians, and he would still be known as that guy with the “boot in the ass” song. He comes in second only to Fox News as the go-to punching bag when you need an analogy of how dumb Americans are, and now that Donald Trump is running for President, Keith may be trumped out of that spot too. Rachel Maddow and others may have never had careers if it weren’t for Toby Keith, even though Keith was a registered Democrat during “The Angry American” era.
And despite making himself into an incredibly easy target and not doing himself any favors in the backsliding of his career and public image, 35 MPH Town is not an especially terrible album when you actually machete through all the distractions and reams of Toby Keith baggage to give it a listen. “Drunk Americans” at least tries, and the song “35 MPH Town” at least has the courage to tell the other side of rural life instead of portraying it as an endless tailgate party in a cornfield.
35 MPH Town includes a couple of full tilt rockers—“Good Gets Here” and “10 Foot Pole,” and though the horn sections felt a little extraneous (couldn’t we use that money to keep the lights on at one of the Toby Keith Bar & Grills?), these songs are kind of fun, though not country at all.
“What She Left Behind” is actually a really well-written and fleshed out tune, and it’s worth noting that while most major label acts these days rely on the “songwriting by committee” model, Toby wrote 70% of this album with just himself and songwriter Bobby Pinson. Keith also co-wrote the two other remaining tracks. “Beautiful Stranger,” which has been tapped for the record’s third single, is also a pretty good song, and is sung quite well too. “Haggard, Hank, & Her” is probably not as good as it looks on paper, but is not a bad effort at all.
But songs like “Sailboat For Sale” with Jimmy Buffett, and the aforementioned “Rum Is The Reason” are like boat anchors dragging down this effort, and “Every Time I Drink I Fall In Love” is just kind of stupid.
In 2003, Toby Keith was what was wrong with country music. When he released “Red Solo Cup” in 2011, he once again deserved that distinction. But 35 MPH Town? It’s a harmless, somewhat outdated-feeling, somewhat country sounding, innocuous mainstream country record with a few decent moments and a few stinkers. The world won’t pay much attention and they probably shouldn’t. But this album is far from the problem.
One Gun Up, One Gun Down (5/10)
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October 19, 2015 @ 8:52 am
I always thought Toby Keith was talking about ME in that song…
October 19, 2015 @ 9:21 am
You you you you you you you you you you you you you. I want to talk about me.
October 19, 2015 @ 9:27 am
I think Toby should’ve been a cowboy. What we really needed from him over the years was a little less talk and a lot more action. If his career is over now, I have to say that he ain’t worth missing.
October 19, 2015 @ 1:30 pm
Hee hee, I see what you did there. Nice
October 19, 2015 @ 2:54 pm
Let’s see if we can keep this going. After listening to this latest song, now I wish I didnt know now what I didn’t know then.
October 19, 2015 @ 4:38 pm
Yeah, and he ought not ask, “How Do You Like Me Now?”~ He might not like the answer…
October 19, 2015 @ 5:41 pm
Does that blue moon (ever shine down on you) as good as it once was when you’re cryin’ for me?
October 19, 2015 @ 7:22 pm
It’s a little too late to getcha some red solo cup and toast the Angry American soldier for graduating from Honky Tonk U. Who’s your daddy? Who’s that man? Who cares? I wanna talk about ME!
October 20, 2015 @ 11:41 am
You shouldn’t kiss me like this, high maintenance woman! I’m just talkin’ ’bout tonight! Love me if you can! Til’ then, I’ll get drunk and be somebody! Lost you anyway beers ago! Me, I like girls that drink beer, drinks after work, and stays in Mexico with double wide paradise!
October 19, 2015 @ 9:05 am
What a moron. Actually, along with Jimmy Buffet, two morons. Tell ’em that you just don’t live in Key West anymore.
Like a lot of fanatics, Hitler was a teetotaler and vegetarian.
Pirates might never have ruled the world, but the British Navy did, and they were drunk off their asses the entire time.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:12 am
You beat me to it, I was going to mention that Hitler didn’t even drink. Stalin I believe liked his vodka but not to excess as far as I know, and I believe that Lenin was a teetotaller, he strikes me as having been the ascetic visionary type (even if I despise that vision).
October 19, 2015 @ 4:44 pm
There’s the web story about how the US Navy, back in the days of sail, would stop in ports and take on supplies, including water and rum.
At the end of a cruise, the rum barrels were empty, and the they had almost as much water aboard as they started out with.
October 19, 2015 @ 9:44 am
Toby had quite a run. He was an unremarkable talent who had a solid radio career, but he never seemed destined for superstardom. Then, he became this brash and boisterous patriotic character, and rode that wave all the way to the bank. Yeah, his brand of “Murica!” patriotism seems dated, but ‘m kind of surprised that he’s fallen this fast.
And I just have to say, if I ever hear another country act duet with Jimmy Buffet, it will be too soon. I just don’t understand the fascination so many of these guys have there. I’m looking at you too, Alan (though otherwise Alan Jackson can do no wrong).
October 19, 2015 @ 5:52 pm
I like his first album, the one with the billowy blue shirt and awkward pose. It had my favorite song growing up, “Should’ve Been A Cowboy”. It was all downhill after that, as far as I’m concerned.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:39 pm
That used to be one of my favourite songs as well. He had a few more decent songs after that, but I agree that things went downhill fast.
October 20, 2015 @ 12:44 am
Uh, “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere” was one of the highlights of Jackson’s career–certainly, the high point of his later years.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:00 am
Shouldn’t Hank Williams Sr. Technically be considered a co-writer on the “Haggard, Hank & Her” song? He basically wrote the entire second verse..
October 19, 2015 @ 10:01 am
Captain ‘Merica LOVES Tobey Keith. Me? I just think he’s hilariously stupid.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:09 am
Surprised at the treatment Keith gets here in both the review and comments. A lot of negative focus on the meta “what Toby Keith IS” which makes Trigger’s review of the actual music seem much more unfavorable than it really is. Overall I’d agree with the gun up/gun down, since there are 5, maybe 6, strong songs on the album, which is about what you’d expect from a guy’s 18th album. It definitely helps if you like his voice and “sound” though, which I admit I do. As for content, well…Angels and Alcohol has “Mexico, Tequila and Me” instead of “Rum is the Reason” and “Jim and Jack and Hank” instead of “Haggard, Hank and Her.” (And I’m a bigger fan of AJ than TK.) And really, comparing him to Isbell or Turnpike, current college kids faves? Try Jackson or Strait instead. And I’d put this one below Angels but better than Cold Beer.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:14 am
Because album reviews are inherently boring and cliche, I regularly discuss what is going on with an artist, or what is going on with music by using an artists as a test case within albums reviews. I also use them as reasons to take an assessment of an artists’ career at that point since they make for good timeline markers. In Toby Keith’s case, there’s not much to be positive about. That doesn’t mean I’m focusing on this, it just means that’s the facts of the matter. His label and career have imploded. But I agree, this album isn’t terrible, and we shouldn’t let all of the extraneous stuff affect our feelings on the music.
October 19, 2015 @ 4:51 pm
That guys got more money than he knows what to do with. That’s the only positive I would need.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:15 am
I agree with that, Keith (though he’s not my cup of tea musically) seems to get more flack than some other artists for his politics, even though there are artists who have been just as political, including in their music. I suppose it depends on whose ox is getting gored as to whether political statements from artists bother people.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:17 am
I broached that very subject in the review, and how it is unfair to his music.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:36 am
The worst part is that the issue isn’t his politics so much as his “politics.” People took in-character songs (from a guy who was talking about how exciting Obama was in 2008) as emblematic of his worldview, and it turned him into a punchline…albeit while making him a metric fuckton of cash off living punchlines.
“Angry American” is an attempt to understand, and empathize with, the “Murica!” reaction to 9/11. The speaker in this album’s title track is an old woman from the Midwest.
I mean, we never accuse Isbell of being a murderer from the 19th century because of Live Oak, or Steve Earle of being a drug dealing Vietnam vet because of Copperhead Road, haha. (Not to argue that Keith is in their league as a writer, obviously).
He’s a pretty good singer and a pretty good songwriter who has always been very willing to let his brand be co-opted if it would make him money. It’s definitely biting him in the ass these days, but I don’t think he’s ever really been “the problem” with country music so much as the image others have projected onto him has been.
October 19, 2015 @ 11:16 am
Good points.
October 20, 2015 @ 3:23 am
I agree. I have always been a big fan and don’t understand the hate. I wish I could have fallen as far as he has, he seems to be doing alright.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:11 am
Interesting outlook indeed. This is the first album of Toby’s I have bought in a few years, so I guess that makes me one of his loser fans.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:17 am
I didn’t call his fans losers.
October 19, 2015 @ 5:34 pm
I am a Toby Keith fan and I have all of his cd’s except his new one I don’t have yet. I am not a loser and his fans neither. I don’t know you but you’re not a loser either if you like toby or have his cd too. I have a lot of friends and family like Toby Keith. Don’t put yourself down if you like toby because you have a right to your opinion Barbara.
October 19, 2015 @ 6:25 pm
I am also a TK fan in fact I am a Warrior; I love Toby voice and all of his Music. But Music isn’t all about Toby ; he has a lot of things going for him and he is laughing all the way to the bank ! He has a loving generous heart for children with cancer and helps people in need. I think he loves his country which is more than our own president and our troops too!! When Toby retires he will still be on top !
October 19, 2015 @ 8:50 pm
Yes!
October 19, 2015 @ 10:47 am
In all honesty, is it really so bad to want to bring the fight to terrorists? It’s not like he was threatening Muslims. Americans have a right to be angry at those who attack them. I know if Latveria was attacked, I would send my army of Doombots after the attackers immediately.
October 19, 2015 @ 11:11 am
Toby Keith is what happens when you play cover band gigs for 10 years, get a deal and number one song. THEN your next 3 albums are all released by different labels while you desperately try to still play by their rules. After all that (15 years) you realize that no matter how much you do it “their way” you are going to end up being dropped. That’s when Toby went rogue. For better or worse he decided to do things his way and be in complete control of his career. He bucked the system and has survived. For that I give him 2 guns up.
October 19, 2015 @ 11:46 am
too bad Toby Keith can’t find a co-writer like Kris Kristofferson to write songs with…
October 19, 2015 @ 11:59 am
If watching Fox News makes me a dumb american, then I am one dumb son of a bitch! Has nothing to do with Toby Keith, but that reference to Fox News was not needed.
October 19, 2015 @ 12:30 pm
KingWatasha,
Please read that portion of the review again. I’m not saying you’re dumb for watching Fox News. I’m saying that is the prevailing stereotype, just like it’s the prevailing stereotype that Toby Keith is the racist American who wants to rape the rest of the world for their oil. If you have no idea that Fox News is vilified in much of the rest of the culture, then maybe you are watching too much of it.
October 19, 2015 @ 2:49 pm
Hey Trigger, I absolutely love this website, and I love true country music. I am not starting a political war with you about Fox News, I am from Oklahoma and do not truly like the new and a lot of the old Toby Keith music. That being said in Oklahoma Fox News is not vilified? Believe it to not I watch a lot of both sides of the political news, and try to form my own opinions, I just would rather it not be slanted in one of my favorite websites that I enjoy getting away from that crap, that’s all I meant by that Fox News statement. I appreciate what you do, thanks!
October 19, 2015 @ 5:53 pm
That’s what I would say. Maybe trig has a lot of lib friends. But it is said among liberals. Good point, good review
October 19, 2015 @ 12:05 pm
I just keep imaging he has some rock doppelganger out there from England named Toby Keef.
And I agree with some of the comments about him doing it his way. I may not like his way but kudos for doing it in this day and age were conformity is more rampant than ever.
October 19, 2015 @ 12:28 pm
Country Music sucks!
October 19, 2015 @ 2:11 pm
theres only two kinds of music. the blues and…
October 19, 2015 @ 4:42 pm
…jazz fusion (lolololol)
October 19, 2015 @ 12:41 pm
Toby Keith has not had an album with more than one or two decent songs on it for a LONG time. Maybe Honkytonk U?
The guy has just had one bad choice after another regarding his creative output after another. First it was choosing to go all-in on the brash, egotistical persona. Then it was starting up his own record label and deciding it was a brilliant idea to pump new albums out every year regardless of how formulaic they are or worse.
Some artists can write or record a crap ton of good to great songs and pump out good to great albums every year or two….Toby Keith has proven to not be one of those guys.
October 19, 2015 @ 1:13 pm
Did Toby Keith ever actually claim to be an outlaw and that he saved Willie’s career? I heard it many times but not sure if he actually said it. If he did, then what a loser
October 19, 2015 @ 1:21 pm
I have never seen that quote. No doubting Keith’s egotism, and they did work together on that “Beer For My Horses” thing, but I’d want to see the source for that before believing that. He is out there saying his awful “Let’s Talk About Me” pretty much set off rap in country, which I seriously second guess.
October 20, 2015 @ 6:57 am
I used to be bothered by Toby’s ego, but the flipside is that his ego has also led to his decline in numerous areas. His chain of restaurants is failing, reviews of his live shows are becoming more and more critical, his music is becoming more and more formulaic and that ego likely led him to split from Scott Borchetta which (as much as I dislike Borchetta) likely speeded up the end of his radio relevancy.
October 20, 2015 @ 5:33 pm
I don’t know if “saved” is the right word, but Toby definitely gave Willie’s career a shot in the arm. He actually got Willie credit for a Number 1 hit with “Beer For My Horses” and they did a lot of appearances together.
October 19, 2015 @ 2:01 pm
Toby’s music has always been MEH! I like some of his work. I hate how his patriotic songs have labeled him a Republican torch carrier. The guy is not even a Republican or was not when the songs came out. He was just saying what a lot of people were feeling. I am not a fan of mixing political agendas in songs. Merle Haggard has done that in his career from time to time. As a huge Alan Jackson and George Strait fan, I am just let down by their recent offerings. I mean these guys are never going to have a radio hit ever again. Why not serve up something memorable? Their fans will buy anything. Maybe, Alan has nothing good left to write about. George has always been a singer not a writer. I would like to see him put his 35 plus career in some songs. I keep turning to Sturgill and Whitey and Willie Nelson to get me through to worst offering of “country music” in my life.
October 20, 2015 @ 6:53 am
I actually feel like the last couple Alan Jackson albums have been creative re-births for him. He was getting creatively very dull towards the end of his radio run and I feel like his Bluegrass album and his last Country album have reawakened his creative fire a bit.
George is a bit of an unknown since his radio shelf life just ended last year. His last album felt a bit like an advertisement for his Vegas gigs, but I think it’s a bit unfair to judge his post radio career until we have more evidence of where he is going.
I actually think the guys like Clint Black, Tracy Lawrence and Travis Tritt are the most disappointing as their radio careers have been dead for a LONG time now and none of them seem to be deviating much from pumping out generic music that appeals only to their shrinking fan bases.
October 19, 2015 @ 3:17 pm
“………. and he doesn”™t have the fluidity or desire to change with the times, or the quality it takes to be considered classic…..”
You’ve summed it up very accurately here , in my opinion Trigger .
October 19, 2015 @ 4:26 pm
I’ve never been a fan but really didn’t like him after the Bullets in the Gun/Road Goes On Forever controversy. Obviously stealing another song and not trying to make it right is wrong.
REK’s response in The Road Goes On and On is great.
October 19, 2015 @ 4:41 pm
I said this on another board just last week and I’ll say it again here. Toby Keith needs to thank the Dixie Chicks for his career. He was just a second tier artist till the controversy started.
October 19, 2015 @ 4:49 pm
Politics and religion, the two subjects that are supposed to be off-limits if people don’t want to be controversial. Funny, early country was loaded with cross-pollination from gospel music and hymns, and it was not only accepted, it was embraced, it was natural. Country music always had that “Saturday night honky-tonkin/Sunday morning remorse and repentance” dichotomy going on. I guess it’s just a different day.
October 19, 2015 @ 4:58 pm
Religion isn’t politics, and gospel isn’t country. I’ve always said there’s exceptions to the “no politics or religion in music” rule, and that includes gospel, reggae, and folk music, because they at their core, they are religious and political expressions. Two of those three are basic building blocks of country, but that’s what makes a song country instead of gospel or folk, because it doesn’t include deeply religious or political ideology. Not sure what any of this has to do with Toby Keith.
October 19, 2015 @ 5:06 pm
Sorry Trigger-not much really, I guess, to do with Keith-your writing is good and can lead me into stream-of-consciousness posts that are tangential to the topic. I’m not trying to make any subliminal points, just writing where the topic takes my thinking 🙂 I’ll try to be a little more focussed in future.
October 19, 2015 @ 4:55 pm
Makes sense, really, that country music would be kind of schizo in that way. I couldn’t think of a classic country artist who wasn’t raised in at least an ostensibly Christian home, but the only way there was to pay your dues and break into the business back then was to play the bars and honky-tonks, and it would’ve taken a special person to keep themselves “separated” from the honky-tonk lifestyle, which would have been at odds with everything they were raised to believe they weren’t supposed to do as a Christian in good standing. No wonder the songs were so interesting but the artists were so often mentally tortured.
October 19, 2015 @ 5:17 pm
All I can say is the world would be a much much better place if Toby Keith was the worst thing on country radio.
October 19, 2015 @ 5:27 pm
Except for “Clavery Tavern” Toby’s last 4out of 5 cd’s so far “Bullets in the gun”, “Hope on the rocks”, “Drinks after work”, and “35Mph town” did not score any top 10 hits. sad isn’t it.
October 19, 2015 @ 5:28 pm
I gotta respect Toby Keith for sticking to his guns. Sure you can criticize him for being repetitive and formulaic, but you can never call him a sell-out. I think he has to realize that he’s never going to have the success he once had, but he hasn’t started changing his music or chasing trends (Gary Allen, I’m talking to you here….), for better or for worse he’s still doing what he’s always done. I’m sure it’s easier when he doesn’t have to answer to a label, but even so.
Also, it seems that Chris Janson is being slotted into the role of “blue collar anthem singer” now. I for one would much rather hear any of Toby’s new songs on the radio than “Buy Me A Boat” for the billionth time.
October 20, 2015 @ 6:45 am
The difference is Gary Allan has recorded some songs and albums that are considered some of the best in Country Music in the late 90’s/early to mid 2000’s.
Toby has never had that level of critical success, hell most of his albums in the last decade have been panned by quite a few music critics.
The sell-out thing is a tricky road to walk, yeah Gary Allan’s last single was terrible, but on the flip side Toby basically ripped off Robert Earl Keen and got away with it.
October 20, 2015 @ 10:52 am
Bingo! Toby has never recorded a “See if I Care” or “Tough all Over” album. He does not have the quality that Gary Allan has (not even close).
October 19, 2015 @ 5:54 pm
Just refer to Tobys song, “The Critic”. That would probably be his comment and is most definitely mine!
October 19, 2015 @ 6:05 pm
Hey trig, I saw you reply to someone on here that you like to use an artist as a test case within an album. I read a lot of album reviews that go song-by-song, and they’re the most boring and mundane things ever. They all say little about the big picture or theme of an album, and don’t introduce the artist to the reader. While a lot of those reviews are written by people who have the right intentions, it really makes me appreciate the reviews you write. You get a lot of credit (deservedly so) for the new music you expose us too, but I think you’re writing ability you have in your reviews is also the among the best in the business- Thanks.
October 20, 2015 @ 7:32 am
Toby is definitely washed up. I Love This Bar and Should’ve Been A Cowboy are his best songs in my opinion.
October 20, 2015 @ 2:06 pm
Never been a huge TK fan but there is a lot worse out there than TK. As far as the Buffett tie in goes, there probably buddies and do it cause they can. Buffett can write check out the early stuff.
October 20, 2015 @ 2:43 pm
Jimmy Buffett’s music seems , if I understand the category correctly, to fall into that strange sub-genre called “Yacht Rock”, just barely. I like Yacht Rock.
October 20, 2015 @ 3:24 pm
Call it what you will I have heard Buffett music called trop Rock. The early stuff had a lot of country influence mixed with some folk, rock and Regae but some of it was strong lyrically.
October 20, 2015 @ 4:12 pm
I have to laugh a bit at how this review seems to emphasize what a flop Toby has been, of late.
I remember when Toby came up in the early ’90s. He was a second- or third-tier artist. Not in the league of “royalty” like Garth and Clint and Reba and Jackson and Strait. And Travis Tritt, Brooks & Dunn and Vince Gill. He was deep the mix with radio artists like Mark Chesnutt and Joe Diffie and Sammy Kershaw and Tracy Lawrence and Lorrie Morgan and Doug Stone and Clay Walker–and not considered better than any of them.
But Toby went and made himself into a superstar.
Now here it is, 20-plus years later. Most of those artists are out of the big leagues but Toby is still here, still selling, and still being reviewed by this site–and by Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, the NYT, etc.
Yeah, Toby’s a flop now compared to where he was 10 years ago, but to me the amazing thing is that he’s here at all and still a cultural force. Ask Tracy Lawrence!
October 20, 2015 @ 7:16 pm
Like a lot of artists, he has been inconsistent as far as the quality of songs, but still one of the great voices/singers ever to represent country music.
October 21, 2015 @ 9:28 pm
Sans 9/11, Toby Keith would never had first tier success.
He is past prime now (fortunately). He clearly has no shame as he is not paying the rents on his restaurants even though he (sadly) has several hundred million dollars.